


Displays of Affection

by ImpishTubist



Series: Amal [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Fluff, Kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:30:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2080359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpishTubist/pseuds/ImpishTubist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chakotay and Tom observe an old human custom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Displays of Affection

**Author's Note:**

> Written back in June, but couldn’t be posted until I got the first part of this series up. Just a silly little unbetaed ficlet.

Chakotay knew that his quarters were a disaster. Four years ago, he might have scrambled to make them more presentable before the captain arrived, and he might have spent their entire meeting quietly fretting about the fact that his place was a mess. 

Now, however, he was the father to an active four-year-old whose toys and PADDs full of books were strewn across the floor. This was his life now, and there was no use trying to hide it. Kathryn knew what she was getting herself into when she requested the meeting in his quarters, anyway, so there was little point in pretending that his life wasn’t hectic and mad and wonderful.

“How’s Amal liking school?” Kathryn asked when she arrived and settled next to Chakotay on the sofa. Amal had left some of his homework lying out on the table, and Chakotay pushed it aside to make room for their cups of tea. 

“He’s not,” Chakotay said with a small smile. “But Ensign Wildman is an excellent teacher, and he’ll get used to it. I just don’t think he likes being away from home, even if it’s only a couple of decks. I have to go pick him up at 1500, if that’s alright.”

Kathryn assured him that it was, and then they settled into their meeting. They were working out duty rosters for the next three months. They were halfway through when Kathryn got up for another cup of tea, and as she passed the table by the replicator, she paused.

“Who are these from?” 

“Hm?” Chakotay looked up from his reading to see Kathryn reach out and gently touch a petal on one of the dozen blue flowers that were in a vase on the table. “Oh. Lieutenant Paris has been dabbling in twentieth-century trivia again. Yesterday was a day that, four hundred years ago, would have been called ‘Father’s Day.’ He thought it would be amusing to mark the occasion, I guess.”

“Amusing,” Kathryn repeated, a small smile tugging at her lips. She bent at the waist in order to sniff the flowers. “I would say that it’s rather sweet, actually.”

“If you say so,” Chakotay said, bemused. Kathryn returned to her seat. “Now, I was looking at the duty rotation for gamma shift, and -”

“And did you do anything for him in return?”

Chakotay stumbled to a halt and frowned. “What for?”

Kathryn gave him a look. “I assume that the point of the holiday was to recognize fathers. Did you do anything for him in return?”

“I -” Chakotay stopped and cleared his throat, his heart hammering in his chest. They had been careful, he and Tom, over the past couple of years. At least, they had strived to be careful. They very rarely ate meals together in the Mess Hall, and if they did, it was in a large group of people. They still kept their separate quarters and it wasn’t often that they spent entire nights together. Tom would usually sneak back to his own cabin in the early hours of the morning whenever he stayed over, and Chakotay would do the same if he could persuade B’Elanna to take Amal for an entire night so that he could spend a night with Tom in his cabin. “Tom’s just a babysitter, Kathryn. I’d have to recognize Tuvok and Harry and half the crew, too, and frankly I don’t have the rations for that.”

Kathryn chuckled, but he should have known she wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. She set her PADD aside, and Chakotay suppressed a sigh. 

“Tom’s different,” Kathryn said quietly. “Isn’t he?”

“I’ve known him a long time,” Chakotay said neutrally. “Long before _Voyager_. Being in the Maquis together, no matter how briefly - those are the kind of bonds that are lifelong. It’s difficult to explain.”

“And that’s not what I’m talking about,” Kathryn said gently. Her voice was warm, but Chakotay was still apprehensive. He knew where this was going, and there was nothing he could do to keep the conversation from going down this path. “You’re in love with him, Chakotay. How long have the two of you been together?”

“We’re not,” Chakotay said evenly, though he knew it was a losing battle. They were going to finish out this conversation whether he liked it or not. 

“If it makes you feel any better, there was nothing in particular that you did that gave you away,” Kathryn went on, as though he hadn’t spoken. “To be honest, it was Amal who first raised my suspicions. He’s inordinately fond of Tom. I found it odd, given that Tom rarely seems to be the designated babysitter. And then I got to thinking that perhaps he saw a lot of Tom because of you. It was a stab in the dark, I admit, but I’m right, aren’t I?”

Now Chakotay set his own PADD aside. He laced his fingers together and rested his forearms on his thighs, leaning forward.

“Tom and I have a… history,” he said finally, “that starts long before _Voyager_. It ended before _Voyager_ , too, but being back on this ship with him, in this Quadrant… it made me rethink some things. Made us rethink some things. And we’re giving it a shot. An honest shot this time. I know that nothing is a guarantee, but when we were in the Maquis, survival couldn’t be assured even on an hour-to-hour basis. Things were more intense, more frantic. Here… things are a bit different. More relaxed. We can actually get to know each other. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”

“How long, Chakotay?” Kathryn asked again.

“Since before Amal came aboard,” Chakotay admitted. “So, a little over four years now, I suppose. Tom’s wonderful with him. Far better than I ever could hope to be.”

He picked up his PADD again, signaling an end to the conversation. He felt hot shame in the pit of his stomach, and he didn't want to think about it too closely at the moment.

Tom was working gamma shift this week, and he got off duty at midnight. Chakotay had sent a private message to Tom’s terminal on the bridge earlier, and Tom arrived in his cabin shortly after 0100. 

“Sorry, I wanted to shower first,” Tom said when he arrived at Chakotay’s quarters. He looked more refreshed than Chakotay felt, but then, he had adjusted his sleeping schedule to match his duty shifts. This must have felt like early evening to him. “What’s up? You sounded harried.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you,” Chakotay said. He beckoned Tom inside and gestured to the sofa. While Tom sat, he went over to the replicator and ordered two cups of hot tea. “How was your shift?”

“Boring,” Tom sighed, slouching in his seat. He propped his legs on the low table and accepted the cup of tea gratefully. “How’s Amal?”

“He spent the day with Ensign Wildman and came home talking about constellations, so I think he’s starting to take to school. He’s looking forward to your trip to the holodeck tomorrow.” Chakotay set his own cup of tea down on the table next to Tom’s feet and went over to a shelf on the other side of the room. “And actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”  


“Amal?” Tom took a sip of his tea and then frowned. “What about him? Something wrong?”

“No.” Chakotay picked up a small box he had placed there earlier and brought it over to the sofa. He handed it to Tom. “It occurred to me that - I don’t thank you enough for all that you do for him.”

Tom snorted. “You thank me every damn day.”

“Yeah, well - I should have done it properly yesterday,” Chakotay said. He nodded to the package. “Go on; open it.”

Tom dug his fingers under the edge of the lid and lifted it off the box. He looked inside, frowned, and pulled out the object within. 

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he said with a laugh. He was holding a ceramic mug, done in the style of the twentieth century. “How many rations did this cost you?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Chakotay tapped the mug. “Turn it around.”

Tom did, and he finally looked at the writing on the other side. His smile turned into an astonished look, and his eyes widened fractionally. 

“I did a bit of research. Apparently it was a traditional Father’s Day gift four hundred years ago,” Chakotay said. The mug said WORLD’S BEST FATHER in bold blue print. “Admittedly, since then our horizons have expanded and we now know there is more than one world out there, but I think the sentiment still stands.”

“Chakotay -” Tom broke off. “I’m not his dad.”

“Yes, you are,” Chakotay said firmly. He had never said as much out loud, but he should have. He should have said it long ago, and he should have told Tom every day. He was the best father Amal could have asked for. “You’re the best thing to happen to him. And to me.”

Tom fisted a hand into Chakotay’s shirt and pulled him in for a messy kiss.


End file.
